Here are my proposed rules for this years contest (assuming you all agree to let me judge and mediate). Changes are bold. I could compete, or not, depending on what you guys think. Let me know what you think about the proposed rule changes. In addition to these rules, I propose we dispose of trophies and give all the money to charity, unless we get a full 20 people to sign up.RULES 1. There will be a $10 entree fee (That should give us around $200 for prize money). First 20 people to get their entry fee to Iwantabuggy get in. PM me for address information. 2. Must be a registered member of BFT to enter. 3. Points will be awarded by the nearest half inch. 4. Must have a picture with the fish on the ground next to the tape, the BFT logo with the year 2011-2012 and you. (You may use a picture of yourself on the ground next to the fish as there isn't always someone to help take the picture.) Pictures of fish in the air next to a tape will not count for points. All pictures must be taken at the lake. 5. Points will be awarded for up to 7 fish. The 7 fish must be made up of a combination of … 1 panfish (perch, crappie, or bluegill/sunfish) 5 different game fish (Rainbow trout, Cutthroat trout/Cut-bow, Brown trout, Brook trout, Splake, Kokanee, Walleye, Large Mouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, land-locked Coho, land-locked Atlantic Salmon,land-locked Chinook, Lake Trout, Northern Pike, Tiger Muskie, Golden Trout, Grayling.) 1 non-game fish (sucker, chub, pike minnow, shiner, catfish, white-fish, carp) 6. Cut-bows will be classified as a Cutthroat. 7. All fish will be eligible for the longest over all fish trophy, regardless of species, as long as they are hooked and landed through a hole in the ice 10 inches in diameter or smaller. 8. Idaho public waters only. Reciprocal lakes count as Idaho waters. 9. You must post your own fish for it to get credit. Please post your photos in JPEG format. 10. Posts must include type of fish, date caught, name of lake, and length of fish, bait or lure used. 11. There will be a maximum score of 25 inches per fish. Fish longer than 25 inches may be entered, but a maximum of 25 inches will be awarded. The exception would be for the longest fish award, and then the whole length will be counted.12. If you catch say a larger Perch but have one posted already no problem. Post the new perch and your points will be adjusted. You don't get both but the larger one will be the one counted. Please check your pictures on the lake of the fish if you can. If it moved and doesn't show the full length of the fish I'm sorry but I go with what shows up in the picture. Points are based on the photos. No limit on size of photos this year but please don't abuse this. 13. Awards will consist of two trophies. One will go to the winner of the “BFT Idaho 7 Fish Challenge.” The second trophy will go to the person who catches the longest fish.

I'm out , I had a great time last year and was planning on doing it again . But if we are going to add Atlantic Salmon , Chinnok , Lake Trout , Northern Pike amd Tiger Musky . The only one we have on this side of the state is Lake trout . It would be very tough for anyone on this side of the state to compete . I don't really care if I win or loose but I would at least like to have a chance . Curt G.

Really Guys? its a friendly competition. who cares who wins and by what fish. its not like you win anything anyways all the entry money goes to charity. even if it was for a little trophy or any small amount of money would it be any skin off your back? the point would be to have fun with it. if its going to be taken that seriously i think the whole point of doing it is being lost. my vote is if it can be brought through a hole in the ice it should count, no matter where in the state you are.

I have been talking to people about this in PMs. We should all try this, this year. If we don't like it we can change it again next year. The 25" maximum rule helps even things out. The people form the western and northern part of the state could say that the seven fish rule without those species makes it too hard for them. I really feel like this will make the contest more competetive not less.

In reality how many people are going to sign up that are going to be able to catch a 25" pike, salmon, and lake trout. It probably won't happen, and if it does good for them. I want to see them.

I really hope everyone will reconsider. This is meant to be a good natured fun contest. I hope everyone will take it in that spirit. Come on guys its three gallons of gas for the entry and it was a lot of fun last year.

Give it a try and if the rules don't seem fair. Change them next year.

Sorry guys, I've been away from my computer for several days. It feels like a need to defend my PROPOSED rules.

I think many folks didn't read all my proposed rules and that they missed the 25 inch max rule. In my mind the 25 inch max rule evens things out quite a bit and should make it a more competive contest. I've caught several species of trout at or near the 25 inch mark including Rainbows, Cut-Throat, and Browns as well as Catfish, Carp, Suckers, and Pike-Minnows. If you fish Henry's Lake, a 25 inch Brookie is a REAL possibility. I don't even know if there are any lakes in Idaho where an Atlantic Salmon a still stocked, but I didn't want to rule them out. Heck, I don't want to rule out anything that can be caught through the ice.

Whether you do or don't live where you could catch a Northern, a T-Muskie, or a Laker, how many of us have, and then how many of us have caught them through the ice. I've never caught any of those 3, let alone through the ice. I also don't live in a area where I have much of a chance of catching a Brown or Brook through the ice of any size to speak of. I catch 1 or 2 Browns ever 3 or 4 years from Magic. Some of you have the opportunity to catch one every year without fail.

If you think my rules are too hard, then someone else can write the rules. I was just trying to make it fun. Someone else can run the contest if they'd like also. It's not a big deal to me. Don't opt out of the contest because you don't like the rules I PROPOSED or because you don't want me to run it. Let's fix them and have one anyway. Honestly, I don't even care if I compete. I just stepped up and said I run it because I thought it would be fun.

Remember, these are just PROPOSED RULES. Let find something that makes everyone happy.

Seems we had fairly poor participation last year, so I was trying to liven it up a bit. Also, I was trying to add more species so that people had more leeway to get their 7 species. Last year I tried to enter a Coho and it was poo-pooed because it wasn't specifically listed in the "included" list. I didn't think the "included" list was an ONLY list. I thought it was an example list.

I am fine with it either way. I don't care if there is a trophy. I did not participate last year, but it seems there were 20 in the contest. So if we get 20 this year, then it will be for cash and not charity? I would be willing to pay $20-$25 for an entry fee in order to get the prize money up which I think in return would make a little more competative. It is possible to have fun and be competative at the same time. We could donate 25% of the winnnings to charity and use the rest for 1st,2nd,3rd cash prizes. 20 people @ $25 = $500 so $125 to charity, and something like $250 for 1st, $100 for second, and $25 for third. If you are going to allow these different game fish, why not just say "any legal game fish as described in the Idaho F&G regs" and the same for non-game fish. That seems it would cover anything that comes through a hole. Just a couple of thoughts.

Your points are well taken. Any legal fish makes sense to me. I do like the max 25 points rule to level it out, though (perhaps it should be max of 20 to level it out more). As for contestants, we only had 12 last year. It's pretty hard to purchase trophies, supply prize money, and donate to charity on $120. That's why I was saying no trophies unless we get 20 people. I'd definitely go for a higher entry fee so there is enough to do trophies and still have plenty for charity, but we don't seem to have much interest even at a low entry fee.

It seems we don't even have 20 people interested at this point. How about this? If you are interested, PM me and I'll start a list of interested people. I personally am not very interested unless we can get at least 15 people. Once we determine if there are enough people to make it competitive we can hash out the rules between those who are interested. Those who aren't interested shouldn't have any input into the rules anyway.

At this point, I'd be ready to throw in the towel with the apparent lack of interest and people miffed at the rules. If ain't not body havin' fun, what's the point of doin' it?

I actually really like your proposed rule changes. It seems very fair to me. I wouldn't up the entree fee until we have a full contest. It is tough to drum up enough people as it is. It really shouldn't be about the prize money although I am not opposed to winning money.

We will never get enough prize money with this type of contest to cover the gas anyway. So just keep the contest cheap and all about the glory. I still have $75 dollars to add to the kitty from last year.

As for the 25" Brook trout....I wish. My son caught the biggest one last year at 22 1/4 and that was huge. I think he is interested in the contest as well. I will have to get him registered on BFT with a handle.

Each state has their own rules for fishing contests. It would be difficult to study every state and then divise a contest that would accomodate all the rules, not to mention potential permits that may be required. Unless you are wanting to take that one on?

I was just wondering why we can only fish in Idaho? It would be cool to see some big Ling or macks from the gorge! just saying...

O-man1,

You PM'd me about the contest, but you aren't set up to accept PM's in return. I'll send you the sign up info and include you in the rules approval emails if you will PM me your email address. I will also email you the location to send your $15 entry fee.

For those still reading the rules posted on the forum (which stated the entry fee would be $10), I've changed it to $15.

Here is the latest version of the proposed rules for this years contest. Based on the feedback I'm getting these are going to be very close to the "official" rules for this year. Please note the entry has been changed to $15, up from $10. I'm going to be pretty firm on that rule in that it won't be going down.

RULES 1. There will be a $15 entree fee. First 20 people to get their entry fee to Iwantabuggy get in. PM me for address information. 2. Must be a registered member of BFT to enter. 3. Points will be awarded by the nearest half inch. 4. Must have a picture with the fish on the ground next to the tape, the BFT logo with the year 2011-2012 and you. (You may use a picture of yourself on the ground next to the fish as there isn't always someone to help take the picture.) Pictures of fish in the air next to a tape will not count for points. All pictures must be taken at the lake. 5. Points will be awarded for up to 7 fish. The 7 fish must be made up of a combination of … 1 panfish (perch, crappie, or bluegill/sunfish/pumpkin seed/green sunfish) 5 different game fish (any legally harvestable game fish listed on page 55 of the 2011-2012 Fishing Seasons and Rules book published by fish and game, other than the panfish listed above or listed as non-game fish)

1 non-game fish (as listed on page 55 of the 2011-2012 Fishing Seasons and Rules book published by fish and game) 6. Cut-bows will be classified as a Cutthroat. 7. All legally harvestable fish will be eligible for the longest over all fish trophy, regardless of species, as long as they are hooked and landed through a hole in the ice 10 inches in diameter or smaller. 8. Idaho public waters only. Reciprocal lakes count as Idaho waters. 9. You must post your own fish for it to get credit. Please post your photos in JPEG format. 10. Posts must include type of fish, date caught, name of lake, and length of fish, bait or lure used. 11. There will be a maximum score of 25 inches per fish. Fish longer than 25 inches may be entered, but a maximum of 25 inches will be awarded. The exception would be for the longest fish award, and then the whole length will be counted. 12. If you catch say a larger Perch but have one posted already no problem. Post the new perch and your points will be adjusted. You don't get both but the larger one will be the one counted. Please check your pictures on the lake of the fish if you can. If it moved and doesn't show the full length of the fish I'm sorry but I go with what shows up in the picture. Points are based on the photos. No limit on size of photos this year but please don't abuse this. 13. Awards will consist of two trophies. One will go to the winner of the “BFT Idaho 7 Fish Challenge.” The second trophy will go to the person who catches the longest fish.